AT&T Charges Up To Eight Minutes For A One-Minute Phone Call

By consumeristcareyMay 6, 2007

AT&T is charging users of its prepaid calling cards up to eight minutes per minute spent making an in-state call. The practice began in February and affects in-state calls made from every state except Illinois, Indiana, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

AT&T claims it is required by the FCC to pay the in-state connection fees set by each state. That would be nice, except according to an FCC spokesman, “Calling card rates aren’t regulated. Period.”

The Executive Director of the Missouri Public Service Commission echoed the FCC’s comment, saying: “The PSC does not regulate the prepaid (calling) cards.” Missouri has not regulated telecom rates “for several years,” and the PSC does not audit AT&T, since the telecom no longer needs state approval to raise rates.

AT&T adamantly insists, however, that the charges are not a rate increase, but a “reclassification.” In a sign of how far AT&T has wandered from the range, their billing practices have not been followed by either Sprint or Verizon; each charge their prepaid calling card users one minute per minute of in-state talk time.